Anti-government protesters, aka the red-shirts, commenced a nation-wide rally across Thailand on March 12, 2010 that will culminate in a mass rally in Bangkok on March 14 with the aim being to force the Thailand government to resign.

The photos on this page are from the prayer ceremony and rally on March 12, 2010 by Pattaya red-shirts.

I’m at the red-shirt stage on Phan Fa Bridge . Every thing here as been peaceful so far. There is a huge security operation in Bangkok in a attempt to ensure the red-shirt movement is kept within certain boundaries. The Thai government is absolutely terrified of the red-shirt movement – not because they are violent, ‚Äì which they are ‚Äì but because they have a lot of grass roots support.

Whether the current situation turns violent or not is hard to predict. However, despite what you may have read elsewhere, it was not the red-shirt movement that started burning buses in 2009.

The majority of red-shirts are rural class people. They are not violent thugs an they have never done anything to threaten foreigners. In fact, the contrary is true. When it looked like they would be attacked by the army during the 2009 protests the red-shirt security personnel tried their best to remove foreigners from any scene of danger.

Shops may close, though at this point it looks unlikely, but in any event Bangkok is a huge city and it’s not possible for anyone to close all of the shops and as a foreigner, if you were unlucky enough to be caught in the middle of it, the Thai people would do their best to ensure you were not endangered.

Continue with your plans but keep monitoring the media, Twitter if you can and the ThaiVisa.com website. This is a struggle for democracy, despite what some right-wing publications or writers might like to say. Tuk-tuk, jetski and taxi scams in Phuket, the smoggy air of the north and falling coconuts are a greater threat to you as a tourist than the red-shirts ever will be.